FCC: Cable Companies Must Defend Confidentiality of Pricing Info

Comes in response to FOIA request for cable price data dating back to 1998

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/19/2012 1:21:57 PM

The Media Bureau is asking cable operators to weigh in on a Freedom of Information Act request to access the last 14 years' worth of price data submitted to the FCC for its annual cable price survey.

The cable companies have routinely sought confidentiality for that info, but the FCC points out that those requests are still pending, so cable operators who believe the data should be withheld from public disclosure because it is proprietary and commercially sensitive will have to make that case anew.

The request is for covers pricing from 1998 to 2012.

The FCC notice came in response to a FOIA request from Ali Yurukoglu, an assistant professor of economics at Stanford currently researching "the effects of bundling and vertical mergers in the cable and satellite television industry."